Gop On Top

Gilmore Grabs Reins In Unprecedented Sweep

Anti-tax Platform Resonates At Polls

Virginia voters waged a tax rebellion Tuesday that gave Republicans an unprecedented sweep of statewide offices and control of at least one chamber of the General Assembly.

With three simple words - No Car Tax - Republican Jim Gilmore won the governor's mansion for a four-year term whose overriding mission will be the gradual abolition of Virginia's personal property tax on most cars and trucks.

Gilmore's easy win over Democrat Don Beyer appeared powerful enough to carry his ticket-mates into office - the first time the state's top three offices have been held at the same time by Republicans in this century.

The victory for Republican John Hager in the lieutenant governor contest gives the GOP marginal control of the evenly divided state Senate. As lieutenant governor, Hager will cast any tie-breaking votes, a role performed for the past eight years by Beyer.

Hager, who fell victim to polio as an adult, would also becomes the first person in a wheelchair to win statewide office.

In the attorney general's race, Republicans scored an important victory with the election of state Sen. Mark L. Earley of Chesapeake, who openly hails from the religious conservative movement.

Earley, a key architect of Virginia's new law requiring parental notification for girls seeking abortions, was heavily backed by the Christian Right, which secured his nomination for the post in a four-way primary last spring.

His victory over Arlington County Democrat Bill Dolan signals the first election to statewide office by a candidate readily identified with social conservatives.

Many in the Christian Right had their hopes dashed in recent years when Oliver North lost his bid for U.S. Senate in 1994 and home-schooling advocate Michael Farris lost his race for lieutenant governor against Beyer in 1993.

Tuesday's lopsided Republican victories also left many GOP officials optimistic they would win control of the House of Delegates for the first time since Reconstruction.

Locally, the GOP took a step in that direction by ousting Del. Shirley F. Cooper, D-York, who first won her House seat in 1983. Early projections showed the seat going to Republican challenger Jo Ann Davis, a York County real estate agent.

Just two decades ago, Republican legislators were so few and far between they occupied a tiny corner of the House chamber.

In recent years, Republicans have slowly but surely swelled their ranks, growing to 46 seats in the 100-member chamber. Gov. George Allen led a high-profile campaign for control of the House in 1995 but came up a few seats short.

This year, buoyed by Gilmore's surge at the top of the ticket, Republicans waged a low-key battle for key House seats. Davis beat Cooper partly by riding on Gilmore's coattails, endorsing his car tax plan, and linking Cooper to Beyer.

Early returns left control of the House up in the air, with projections showing a GOP gain of two seats. They need four to secure a 50-49 majority, with one independent continuing in office.

Republican control of the House and Senate would likely mean significant changes in public policy.

Reforms long bottled up in committees, such as the creation of privately run charter schools, could suddenly find new strength. The partisan switch could also mean passage of a law requiring parental consent for teenagers seeking abortions, as opposed to simple notification.

And a Republican legislature is also sure to rubber-stamp Gilmore's ``no car tax'' plan that would face significant resistance among Democrats. House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, has declared the tax plan would pass only ``over my dead body'' if Democrats retain their majority.

The scale of Gilmore's victory was made clear in the Buckroe neighborhood of Hampton, a swing precinct that voted narrowly for President Clinton last year but backed Republican George Allen for governor in 1993.

Edwin Hake, who moved to Hampton five years ago from Maryland, is a self-described Independent who voted for Clinton in 1992.

``This is stupid,'' he said of the local personal property tax. ``They tax my boat, my trailer and my automobile. They keep adding taxes but they don't take any away.''

So powerful was Gilmore's ``no car tax'' message that it appeared to cut across economic and racial lines. Aside from losing swing voters, Beyer had trouble hanging onto the Democratic Party's most loyal base: African-Americans. Recent polls showed Beyer with less than 70 percent of the black vote, well below the percentage attained by previous Democratic candidates.

``The voters' appetite for tax cuts is inexhaustible,'' said Virginia political analyst Thomas R. Morris, president of Emory and Henry College. ``They've become realistic to know politicians can't always deliver on their promises. But they want to believe.''

The Virginia gubernatorial contest - one of only two in the country this year - has been closely watched nationally as a measure of popular sentiment for tax cuts.

Gilmore's victory, party leaders say, could embolden Republicans in Congress, who are hoping to craft a tax-cutting formula that will win votes in next year's federal races.

``Our whole message of wanting to cut taxes for overtaxed Americans is reinforced by this,'' said Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson, in an earlier interview.

Others have cautioned that Gilmore's win may not directly translate into support for wholesale tax reform nationally. The local car tax, while highly unpopular, exists in only about a half-dozen states.